Bannen shakes his head. “I’m sorry. Bloody Mary is a killer. Even if she didn’t kill Elizabeth on purpose she killed Henry and probably her father. Not to mention all the people over the centuries that summoned her so why the hell are we trying to save her?”
“She didn’t kill them for herself. Henry was a horrible man so can you honestly say the world was a lesser place without him? The ones she’s killed when summoning hasn’t been for herself. It’s been for Cordelia. Don’t you see, Cordelia is calling all of the shots? She’s the puppet master controlling all of our strings,” I tell him, unable to keep the anger from my voice.
Penn steps close to me and wraps and arm around my shoulders. “So, we’re breaking Mary free from the spell but where do we start?”
“We have to locate Cordelia first. We have to be able to ensure that she can’t seal another soul into the mirror to keep her immortality. If she knows we have Mary, then she’ll move on to a backup plan and breaking Mary is all for nothing.” Oski takes a moment and we all nod in agreement. “There’s one more thing. Olivette, if it comes down to it can you kill Mary?” I start to protest immediately but Oski holds his hand up to stop me. “I know you don’t want to, but there is a good chance that it’s simply been too long for her. Being trapped and all of the killing could have driven her mad and the only true escape for her would be death, can you do that if it comes down to it?”
Oskis words dance around in my head. I finally nod and manage to say yes but the truth is I don’t think I could. How can I kill her when I feel drawn to her? How can I kill her when I don’t feel like she deserves it?
Chapter 18
Penn
I can still read Olivette even after being away from her for the past couple of years. I know that she won’t be able to kill Mary if it comes down to it, at least not right now. I don’t know if she’ll ever be able to and if she can’t I don’t know what that will mean for us. “So, what do we do now?” I ask Oski.
He gets up without a word and disappears from the room. When he returns his arms are full, Bannen gets up to help him and they spread everything out on the kitchen table. “I’ll try to create a locating spell. I’m not actual warlock so it will only work if Cordelia is close by. There’s not much we can do until we locate her.”
“And if we find her?”
Oski looks up at me, his dark eyes meeting mine in a steady gaze. “We end this, once and for all.”
Olivette steps closer to Oski. “What does that mean for you? I mean if we kill Cordelia and your immortality is connected to hers.”
A soft smile graces his face. “I will die.” Olivette starts to shake her head but Oski stops her. “I’ve lived an incredibly long life, Olivette. I’m fine with going. I was fine going that day in my kitchen while washing dishes. I lived to be an old man and that’s much more than a lot of people get. I’ll gladly die if it means that Cordelia can no longer cause chaos in the world.”
I try to imagine a world without Oski in it. A world where the Conjurer’s Apothecary doesn’t exist. I can’t picture it. I don’t want to. I know that Cordelia is the problem, but it seems unfair to lose Oski because of her. “There’s no other way,” I whisper into the silent kitchen.
Oski gives me a sad smile. “I’m afraid not.”
I can tell by the shake of Olivette’s shoulders that she is crying. I wonder if she’s running through the same memories from our childhood as I am. The only bad thing is that I have more memories with him. I have an entire childhood. I never stopped coming in here when she did. The store and Oski were the last things I had to remember her by. Somewhere in my search for a way to stay close to Olivette, Oski became the person that kept giving me hope.
Oski claps his hands. “You all go home and get some sleep! I’ll get to work on trying to locate Cordelia.”
“What do we do about Bloody Mary until then?” Chasity asks.
“The best advice I can give you is to avoid mirrors. She may not be trapped but it will still be her weapon of choice. Be careful around glass in general. Maybe, try using the buddy system, don’t go alone. At least that way you might have some back up if she does show up. I’m sorry about all of this,” Oski tells us.
Olivette shakes her head. “You don’t owe anyone an apology. You didn’t cause this. You’re just trying to clean up the mess.” She steps forward and hugs him. Afterwards we all leave. Bannen and Chasity promise to stick together if we all four aren’t together.
It’s a silent car ride on the way back to Newport. I can feel Olivette’s emotions filling the cab of my truck. By the time we pull into my driveway it’s midday. “Are you going to be okay?”
She nods her head slowly. “I’ll be okay. Will you be okay?”
“I’ll be fine. If you need me just call.”
“I’m just going to sleep until school tomorrow,” Olivette comments.
As we get out of the truck I ask her “What about your car?” She shrugs in reply. “Do you need to be school early tomorrow?”
She gives me a half smile. “We have the chem lab tomorrow.”
“Shoot! I forgot about that. Just meet me here in the morning. I’ll drive us,” I tell her. She nods then heads to her house. I watch to make sure she makes it in safely, but I feel the worry in the pit of my stomach because if I’m not with her I don’t know how I’ll know if she’s not okay. Eventually, I give up and head inside. My eyes heavy with sleep once again.
Chapter 19
Olivette
I actually slept through most of the night. I woke up once and got out of my bed and roamed around my room. I stared out my bedroom window for a while watching Penn’s. He must have been asleep because all his lights were out and there seemed to be no movement inside his room. Finally, I climbed back into bed and fell asleep.
Unusual dreams took over my sleep though. Maybe, they weren’t really dreaming. Maybe, they were really memories. In every single one there’s a dark-haired girl with me. I don’t know what I look like in the dreams with the exception of my long blonde curls.
I’m sitting on a blanket with a dark-haired little girl beside me. She’s reading me a book. She changes her voice for each character which makes me laugh. The girl looks up every so often and gives me a smile, her steel gray eyes lighting up with adoration.
The image changes and suddenly my tiny hand is in her slightly larger one. We’re walking through a field of flowers. The sun warming our skin and she’s humming some soft melody. Butterflies and hummingbirds flutter around us.
I’m chasing after her. I watch as her long dark hair dances in the wind. The red ribbon in her hair standing out. I’m in a fit of giggles as I chase after her trying to catch her. When we reach the trees, I lose sight of her. I spin around in a circle until I feel fingers tickling my sides. When I look up I see her smiling down at me.
I’m older now. We’re walking through town and I see the heads of the other town people come together as they whisper and point. The dark-haired girl looks straight ahead. Trying to keep her head held high as if what’s going on around her doesn’t bother her. I feel angry. I reach for her hand, trying to give her extra strength that she’ll never admit she needs.
Thunder and lightning come through the curtains of my room. I grab the candle next to my bed and scurry down the hallway to a door. I open it without knocking. The dark-haired girl sits up and gives me a smile before pulling back the covers for me to join her. I hurry under the covers and she hums to me again.
The alarm going off wakes me from my sleep. I sit up in the bed and hold my pounding head. I have no idea what just happened. Those weren’t dreams, they we’re memories. Memories of Mary and Elizabeth, I’m sure of that. What if Oski is right and I’m having these memories because some part of me is Elizabeth?
I get dressed, take some Tylenol then head over to Penn’s. He’s already standing outside his truck with a travel mug of coffee in his hand. “Good morning sunshine,” he greets me. I must glare at him because he holds
a hand up in surrender. “Whoa, someone must have had a rough night.”
“It was fine actually until about the last couple of hours.”
Penn’s brows furrow together. “What happened?”
I hop into his truck instead of answering. Penn follows my lead and slides behind the wheel. He doesn’t make a move to start the truck, so I know I’m going to have to speak. “I don’t know what happened. I had these dreams or maybe they were memories but I’m pretty sure one of the girls was Mary and…” I trail off while trying to swallow the lump in my throat, “I think that I was Elizabeth. I never saw myself. I just saw long blonde curls and I was always with this dark-haired girl that I think was Mary.”
A look of worry flashes through Penn’s eyes before he manages to cover it up. If I didn’t know him so well I probably would have missed it. “We’ll get it all figured out.” Penn starts the truck then heads towards the school.
The fall morning is thick with fog. There’s a chill in the air and there’s not a trace of sun in the sky. It’s gloomy and looks like a storm is on the horizon. As we make our way to the school the fog seems to thicken. By the time we park in the parking lot you can barely see ten feet a head. Penn hops out and I slide across the seat and out of the driver’s side door when he holds it open.
I must look nervous as I look in every direction trying to see anything. Penn reaches down and takes my hand. He leads us through the parking lot. The quiet that seems to have taken over makes the hair on my arms stand up. I grip Penn’s hand tighter. Finally, we make it to the door of the school. I let out a sigh of relief when the door shuts behind us.
“Where is everyone?” Penn whispers into the silent hallway. I didn’t even notice the silence until he mentions it. I look around and see no one. He pulls on my hand and we head up the stairs towards the chem lab. The door is unlocked so we head in but no one else is there.
I look around the room. “This is weird. Everything is set up for the lab, but no one is here. There’s no way we are the first ones here. We’re almost late.”
Penn nods and starts to walk around the room. “Something is wrong. Did we miss a memo or something? It is Monday, right?”
I nod. “Yeah, it’s Monday.”
Penn sits his book bag on the table and I walk over to him. I drop my backpack to the floor. “I guess we wait,” Penn says with a shrug.
We take our seats. It’s been at least ten minutes and no sign of movement. As we’re sitting there an ice-cold chill sweeps through the room, so cold that the windows begin to frost. The lights begin to flicker. Penn and I both stand up. He brings a finger to his lips to tell me to be quiet. I nod once. The silence feels heavier now than before, and my teeth begin to chatter from the cold as it seeps through my clothes and skin, down to my bones.
Suddenly, screams fill the silence, deafening, ear bleeding screams. We both cover our ears with our hands, but it does no good to drown out the octave of the noise. My eyes water from the pain in my ears. My head pounds against my skull. Just when I think I can’t take it anymore everything stops. Silence returns but the throbbing of my ears and head make it difficult to focus.
Suddenly, the glass in the room starts shattering. Shards of glass fly through the air. It comes from every direction and from every item, the lights overhead, the windows, the beakers and test tubes in the room. Everything is splintering and shattering. Penn grabs my arm and pushes me under the table. He crawls next to me and wraps his arms over my head and we hunker under the table. The glass continues to fall to the floor until there is nothing left to shatter.
Penn crawls out first motioning for me to stay under the table, but I follow him anyway. I won’t let him face anything without me. This is more about me than him. He stands and examines the room. His eyes land on the whiteboard at the front of the room. I follow his stare and see the thick, red blood running down the white board and onto the floor. I don’t mean to, but I scream.
Penn grabs my elbow and pulls me with him toward the door at the back of the classroom. In our rush we slide out into the hallway which remains empty and silent. As we stand there, trying to decide what to do next the rows of lockers that line the hallway on both sides fly open. Books, paper and everything else crammed into the lockers flies out into the air of the empty hallway. I jump in Penn’s arms. Penn attempts to shield me from the scene but the noise echoes. The lights above start to flicker before dying out completely.
Penn grabs my hand and we take off down the hallway and stairs until we hit the bottom floor. The lights start to flicker just like they had upstairs. As we jog to the courtyard of the school the lockers also do the same as they had upstairs. As we pass the main office the glass shatters and flies toward us, but Penn is quick. He pulls us to halt just before the scene. Once the glass falls to the tile floor he pulls me with him towards the courtyard once again.
The ice-cold wind whips at our skin once we’re outside. The weather has changed. The sky above has darkened, the wind is stronger, and the fog seems thicker. I don’t ask where we’re headed because I’m not sure Penn even knows. He’s just trying to get us to a place where we might be safe. We continue to run until we hit the football field. We don’t have time to stop before we run into Danny and Triv.
“What are you guys doing?” Triv asks as he glares at mine and Penn’s clasped hands.
“We had chem lab,” I tell him while tightening my grip on Penn’s hand.
Danny laughs. “School was canceled due to the deaths. Some of the teachers are here but that’s it.”
“What are you guys doing here?” Penn asks.
riv crosses his arms over his broad chest. “We came to do some workout drills. We were waiting for the weather to clear up some.”
I scoff. “I wouldn’t count on that.”
Triv chuckles. “Oh, that’s right because it’s Bloody Mary.” At the mention of her name an angry boom of thunder fills the air and the ground begins to rumble. The screaming returns.
“What the hell is that?” Danny asks.
Penn yanks me forward while telling everyone, “Run!”
I glance back and my scream falls into the mix of hers. I can make her out in the fog. Dark hair falls from under the white hood of her cape. Blood runs down her face from her eyes and stains her white dress and cape. She reaches out her hand and it too is smeared with blood but there is something in her eyes. A sadness or loss that is different from the girl’s eyes of my dreams.
I stumble on a water sprinkler since I wasn’t looking where I was going. My hand falls out of Penn’s and I fall to the ground, landing hard on my hands and knees. All three guys stop and turn. I look back over my shoulder and she is there reaching out to me. Her hand clutches around my ankle and pulls me toward her. I start to kick and fight but I’m losing. She drags me along the grass, back toward the school. I’ve lost sight of the guys, all I can see is the fog, Mary, and the blood that stains her image.
Chapter 20
Penn
My heart was in my throat. I felt like I was going to throw up. I’ve always been proud of my body and thinking I was in shape, but no amount of boxing classes could prepare me to run like this. I’m not a runner. It doesn’t help that Olivette stalls constantly, almost as if she’s drawn toward Mary instead of away from her. Maybe, that’s part of the Elizabeth thing. I see a glimpse of Mary and I’m gone, dragging Olivette behind me and telling the others to run. Trivitt plays the cool dude like he doesn’t believe any of this but if he can’t see what’s right in front of him then he’s crazier than I thought.
I feel Olivette trip over something as we are running and the next thing I know her hand is no longer in mine. It takes a moment for my body to comprehend what my mind has already figured out. I slide to a stop. Trivitt and Danny stop then turn to look at me. I stare ahead in horror. Olivette is on all fours and Mary is right behind her. I’m frozen in fear. I want to help her, but I can’t seem to get the fear pushed aside enough to move. I’m a good ten feet aw
ay from her. If it wasn’t for her mass of blonde curls and black jacket I doubt I’d be able to see her at all.
Olivette looks over her shoulder and sees Mary. I can see the recognition in her eyes, even from here. Mary reaches out with a blood-stained hand and closes it around Olivette’s ankle. Olivette begins to fight but Mary drags her along, deeper into the fog. Movement from the corner of my eye unfreezes me. Danny is making a mad dash for Olivette. He’s not frozen like I am. I start to follow after Danny. I holler over my shoulder to get the stadium lights on.
“Will that help?” Trivitt hollers back.
“I don’t know. Just do it.” In all honesty I have no clue if it will help but at this point it’s worth a try. I’ve never seen Mary come out in the direct light. Maybe, we’ll get lucky and it’ll affect her in some way, weaken or scare her away. Danny’s hand wraps around Olivette’s wrist and he pulls just as the stadium lights blind us all.
Mary screams and releases Olivette’s ankle. Luckily, Danny doesn’t hesitate, he pulls Olivette to her feet and they begin to run my way. I’m mentally cursing myself for freezing. I should have been the one to save her, but I was stuck just watching the horror show in front of me. I take her other hand and we start to run until Mary’s screams stop us.
The screams come over the speakers in the stadium. Trivitt appears beside us. “You got the lights,” I comment.
Trivitt shakes his head. “No, I was heading that way when I saw Andrew and Christina. I sent them.”
“Are the lights controlled in the box where they commentate the game?” I ask. All three of them nod and I roughly run my hands through my hair. The screams grow louder and louder until they stop. It’s eerily quiet, so quiet we can hear one another breathing. Then comes the sound of shattering glass and screams. They fill the football field. Following the screams of Christina comes a gurgling noise. Almost as if someone is choking on their blood. Christina is crying and whimpering over Andrew and I feel useless. I didn’t manage to save anyone. Olivette takes off toward the bleachers. She’s heading for the announcer’s box.
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